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The Record
Keeper
CARDINAL SINS: RUFFING PARTNER'S WINNER
By Nikos Sarantakos,
Luxembourg
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In this article we'll examine
what is perhaps considered the worst crime in bridge:
ruffing partner's winner.
In fact, in a recent issue of Bridge Plus,
there was a cartoon with the tombstone of a certain Mr
Skinner (composed by J. Barnes of Newcastle) who was in the
habit of ruffing his partner's winners - and presumably met
with violent death at the hands of some irate partner.
Without going to such extremes, suffice it to say that
ruffing partner's winner is usually not going to gain
partner's applause.This being the case, it is not perhaps
strange that many players are reluctant to ruff their
partner's winner even when this manifestly is the winning
move. A shrewd declarer can benefit from this inhibition, as
in the following deal, reported originally by Barry Rigal
from a US National Championship:
Dealer: South. N/S Vul.
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K 6 3
K J 10 3
A 8
K 5 4 3 |
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9
Q
Q 9 6 5 2
A Q 8 7 6 2 |
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A 10 8 7 4
7 6 2
J 10 7 4
10 |
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Q J 5 2
A 9 8 5 4
K 3
J 9 |
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South opened 1,
West overcalled with 2NT (the Unusual No-trump for the
minors) and North closed proceedings with 4.
The
9,
a likely singleton, was led to the ace. Back came
10,
another likely singleton, covered by the jack and won by
West's ace. Now West plays a rather eloquent
Q.
East ruffs the king and fires back a spade to return the
favour and beat the contract, right? Yes, but what if
declarer refuses to put dummy's king on West's
Q?
It should make no difference, but this particular East had a
strong aversion to ruffing his side's winners - so West's
queen won the trick and the subsequent spade ruff
disappeared. Contract made!
In the rest of this article we'll see some
examples where defenders did not shrink in horror when it
came to ruffing their partner's winner.
Our first exhibit comes from the Open Pairs
event of the 1996 China Cup:
Dealer: East, E/W Vul.
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8 7 4
7 6
9 8
K J 10 8 6 4 |
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J 3
Q J 10 5
A J 5
Q 7 5 2 |
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K Q 9 5 2
K 9 4 2
K 4 2
9 |
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A 10 6
A 8 3
Q 10 7 6 3
A 3 |
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West |
North |
East |
South |
Weinstein |
Helness |
Stewart |
Helgemo |
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1 |
Dbl |
Pass |
2 |
Pass |
Pass |
Dbl |
Pass |
Pass |
2 |
Dbl |
End |
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Fred Stewart of the USA opened 1
and Geir Helgemo of Norway doubled with the South cards (not
exactly a text-book double!). You may have doubts about the
strong-pass-then-double method employed by West and in fact,
since East-West can make ten tricks in hearts, Helgemo's
doubled contract stood to gain, especially if he could
manage to get away with only one down.
Steve Weinstein (USA) led
J.
Declarer won with his ace and ducked a heart. Weinstein
played low since he wanted partner to win the trick and play
a trump through South. This duly happened and Weinstein won
his jack, cashed the ace of trumps, and switched to his low
spade. East won and continued with a third spade.
Now, West knew that driving out
A
was urgent. Afraid that his partner might well elect to
continue with a fourth spade, Steve Weinstein ruffed his
partner's winner and played a heart himself, going out of
his way to make things easy for Stewart. Declarer won, and
played
A
and club to the jack but East ruffed this with his king, and
was able to cash a heart for two down.
In this last example, the sin was committed
as a safety measure; in our next exhibit, it was essential
in order to beat the contract:
Dealer: West. Game All.
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J 9
Q 10 8
K 9 7 5 3
A 4 2 |
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3 2
J 7 5 4 3
A 10 6 2
7 6 |
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K 8 7 6
9
Q J 4
K Q J 8 5 |
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A Q 10 5 4
A K 6 2
8
10 9 3 |
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West |
North |
East |
South |
Nilsland |
Koch-
Fallenius |
Auken |
Palmund |
Pass
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Pass
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1* |
1 |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
2 |
Pass |
2 |
End |
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*
Precision, not necessarily long diamonds |
The deal comes from the Scandinavian Derby
between Sweden and Denmark for the 1995 European
Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal. The Swedish West, Mats
Nilsland, led
7
to East's jack. Declarer, Denmark's Jens Auken, ducked, won
the
K
continuation with the ace, and then played
A
and a heart to the queen - an unnecessary move that he was
to regret bitterly when East ruffed and then played
Q.
Nilsland rose to the occasion: he ruffed his
partner's winner and fired back
J
(suit-preference for diamonds) for East to ruff. Bjorn
Fallenius duly ruffed, played a diamond to West's ace and
received yet another ruff for one down.
Astute readers will have noticed that
declarer can actually make ten tricks in spades as the cards
lie if he simply goes about his business of drawing trumps
instead of dabbling with hearts. Still, he received the
deserved punishment only because Nilsland didn't hesitate to
ruff his partner's winner.
In our next example some didn't dare commit
the sin, some went for it and others even pulled their
partners away from it!
Dealer: East. N/S Vul.
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J 8 4
Q J
A K 9 8 3 2
Q J |
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A K 9 8 7 4 3 2
Q 7
9 8 4 |
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A K 10 9 7 3
5
J 10 6 5 4
3 |
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Q 6 5 2
10 6
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A K 10 7 6 5 2 |
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This wild deal comes from the last edition
of the late and much lamented Macallan (formerly
Sunday Times) tournament. Although East-West cannot make
4
(unless playing against close relatives), understandably
most Souths competed to 5
and were doubled there. Would that cost 500 or 800?
At one table, Xu Hongjun began proceedings
against 5
by leading
A
and
K.
Zhuang Zejun, his partner sitting East, ruffed the king
without a flicker and started on spades: this allowed the
Chinese pair to collect five tricks for 800.
At another table, Omar Sharif was West: he
also led
A
but when his partner, Christian Mari of France, followed
with
5
(an obvious singleton by their methods), Omar switched to
9,
forcing partner to ruff and switch to spades.
Just in case you scoff at going to such
lengths to make things clearer for one's (expert) partner,
witness what happened at another table, where against the
same contract Tony Forrester led
A
and
K.
His partner didn't find it necessary to ruff, so the penalty
was a mere 500 points. (Said partner shall remain nameless,
but he was not Andrew Robson!)
Speaking about Omar Sharif, although we saw
him in the act of pulling partner away from the path of sin,
he is known to have committed the sin himself:
Dealer: South. Love
All.
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5 2
K Q 8 6
A K Q 9
K J 7 |
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Q
9 5
10 8 4 2
A Q 10 9 6 5 |
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A K J 10 7 4 3
4 3
J 6 3
8 |
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9 8 6
A J 10 7 2
7 5
4 3 2 |
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West |
North |
East |
South |
Sharif |
Mouiel |
Jourdain |
Kowalski |
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Pass |
Pass |
1 |
3 |
Pass |
Pass |
Dbl |
Pass |
4
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End |
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The deal comes from the 1998 Generali
Masters, an invitational Individual tournament. Against 4
by South, Sharif led his singleton
Q.
Patrick Jourdain overtook and fired back his singleton club.
Omar won and gave him his ruff. Then East continued with
10
and Sharif ruffed his partner's winner to give him another
club ruff. This good defence achieved two down, but it
turned out as a below average score for Sharif. Why?
Because at no fewer than seven tables West
opened with 3
(yes, in second position: it was an individual, after all),
North over-called with 3NT ending the auction, and then East
proceeded to cash seven spades and a club, for a 200 points
penalty! So, in Sharif's case, sin was its own reward, so to
speak.
These few examples show that there always is
a silver lining even in the darkest cloud; so next time your
partner ruffs your winner, don't rush to yell at him: it
might be a brilliant move after all. Yet if he is doing it
consistently, or if he ruffs your ace with the ace of
trumps, it might help if you show him Mr Skinner's
tombstone! |